Blair Scott has plenty of reasons to feel pleased with his start to the season. Blair has ridden in four meetings in the first eight days of the season. He failed to make much impression in the Ashfield individual season opener. Last weekend he score seven plus one from four rides at Armadale against Glasgow and followed up with nine from four rides in the Ashfield return. In between he qualified for the Final of the British Under-21 championsip from the Newport Semi-final.
Blair will readily agree that Newport isn't exactly his favourite track. He had hoped to be in the other Semi-final at the Isle of Wight a week on Tuesday. Apart from anything else his trip to Newport left him with a lot of travelling. He had to go from Armadale on Friday night to Newport for Saturday afternoon and back to Ashfield for Snday afternoon.
Blair left it late in qualifying. He only picked up three points from his first rides. He ended with a win and a couple of second places that left him with ten points. This produced a tie with Jamie Birkenshaw for the last qualification place.
Blair commented to the Edinburgh Evening News:
"I thought I had blown my chance after such a poor start. The run-off was a major pressure situation. I wanted the outside gate which I got, but I still misssed the start! However after a big sweep around the outside and managed to pass Jamie on the third lap. Now it's up to me to see what I can do in the final."
It has been suggested that this could be the make or break season for Blair. He needs to establish himself at second string and push his average up a point or so. The start he has made in the difficult number two position suugests that he could be on course. His Armadale form is such that he should be seen as a realistic contender for the British Under-21 Championship a week on Friday.
In the meantime, Blair and the rest of the team face a tough test at Sheffield on Thursday in the first leg of the Premiership with the return at Armadale twenty four hours later.